


grant me a wish? (give me your heart)

by CerinityKS



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Genie/Djinn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 07:05:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4657179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CerinityKS/pseuds/CerinityKS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Sorry, what?”</p><p> </p><p>The man smiled, oblivious to Bucky’s internal struggle. “I said, my name is Steve, and I am your genie. You may have three wishes from me and no more. Anything you desire that I can grant you is yours. What is your first wish?” </p><p> </p><p>‘Fucking me into a mattress,’ Bucky thought dazedly as he licked his lips. </p><p> </p><p>Instead, he said, “First off, call me Bucky.”</p><p> </p><p>After all, asking the guy who was apparently your <i>genie</i> (seriously, what?) to fuck you would probably be coming on a bit strong, Bucky thought. It was best to wait a bit, get to know them, and <i>then</i> pounce.</p>
            </blockquote>





	grant me a wish? (give me your heart)

**Author's Note:**

> my first stucky fic, a re-written version of an old fic of mine for another fandom as a way to get a bit more comfortable writing these two since it's been quite a while since I've written anything. Hopefully you guys enjoy!

Finding a present for Becca’s birthday should have been easy. The antique genie lamp had been perfect, something to add to Becca’s collection, started from her obsession with Aladdin. If Bucky had known that he’d suddenly have a half-naked guy standing in his living room calling him master and saying he was there to grant his wishes when he tried to shine it, he would have put the damn lamp back and walked on by.

Definitely. 

Probably. 

Wow this guy’s abs were _very_ distracting. Bucky kinda wanted to lick ‘em. 

What was he thinking again? 

“Master?” 

Bucky swallowed and forced himself to look away from the guys _amazing_ body and into his startlingly blue eyes. Bucky coughed and shifted awkwardly. 

“Sorry, what?” 

The man smiled, oblivious to Bucky’s internal struggle. “I said, my name is Steve, and I am your genie. You may have three wishes from me and no more. Anything you desire that I can grant you is yours. What is your first wish?” 

‘Fucking me into a mattress,’ Bucky thought dazedly as he licked his lips. 

Instead, he said, “First off, call me Bucky.” 

After all, asking the guy who was apparently your _genie_ (seriously, what?) to fuck you would probably be coming on a bit strong, Bucky thought. It was best to wait a bit, get to know them, and _then_ pounce. 

“Bucky,” Steve drawled, testing the name. Then he beamed, and Bucky had to repress a whimper. 

Oh sweet merciful jesus, that grin should be illegal. 

“What’s your first wish then, Bucky?” 

Bucky opened his mouth, mind whirring, before he paused and narrowed his eyes. “What’s the catch?” 

“Pardon?” Steve blinked. 

“You know, the _catch_ ,” Bucky stressed. “In all the stories there’s always a catch. Things you can’t wish for, things you can’t do, you know. So what am I not allowed to wish for?” 

Steve stared at him, dumbfounded, before his lips twitched. “You know, you’re the first person to ever ask me what they _can’t_ wish for?” 

“That… isn’t all that surprising actually,” Bucky mused. 

Steve nodded and looked inordinately please with Bucky. 

“To answer your question, you can wish for anything you desire. _Anything_. There aren’t any limitations, despite what your stories claim.” 

Bucky was surprised at that. 

“Wait, none? Really? What about consequences?” 

Steve beamed at him again, proud, and Bucky forced himself not to stare. 

“Good catch! Yes, you can wish for anything you want, I will grant it. But the bigger the wish, the greater the consequences, and the less control I have over how it’s granted. The consequences for the greedy are quite severe.” 

“How?” Bucky narrowed his eyes. 

“Well,” Steve mused, “Two centuries ago I had a master who wished to be well known in his country. He wanted attention and fame, wealth and glory. It was a selfish wish, but I granted it. He got exactly as he demanded, becoming well known and wealthy throughout the country. Everyone knew of him. Soon after though he was killed, murdered in his bed by his brother who was quite jealous. It was pretty gruesome.” 

Bucky stared, horrified. Steve continued. 

“I had another master, female, can’t quite remember when but it was long ago. She wanted the object of her affection to lust for her as she lusted for him. I granted her wish, and she was happy. They married shortly after, but she wasn’t able to conceive. The man was ashamed and left her, since no one wanted a barren wife. She killed herself shortly after.” 

Bucky started to wish he hadn’t asked. 

“Most recently,” Steve was _still talking_ , “a master of mine wished for his favorite sports team to win a championship. They did, and that team hasn’t won again since.” 

Bucky was sufficiently warned. 

“Are there, you know, _any_ safe wishes?” he asked, a bit freaked out. 

Steve blinked at him, confused. 

“I don’t understand?” 

Bucky scoffed, “Wishes that don’t have terrible consequences attached to them!” 

“Everything has consequences Bucky.” 

Bucky kinda wanted to hit him right then, just a little. Gorgeous or not. 

“I mean,” he gritted out, “you’ve just told me that I can wish to pass one of my classes this semester, but as a result I probably won’t pass another. I could wish to graduate from college, but I probably won’t be able to find a job in my field. I can wish for something material, but something horrible will probably happen to ruin it. See what I mean?” 

Steve frowned. 

“So you don’t have a wish for me?” 

Steve might be sculpted by the gods, but he was a bit dense, Bucky decided. 

“Yes Steve,” he sighed, “it means I don’t have a wish for you.” 

\- 

So apparently, when genies don’t have anything to do, they _didn’t_ go back inside their lamp like in the stories. Instead they hung around, distractingly half-naked, and made you lose any concentration you had. 

It was a good thing, Bucky mused, that he lived alone. Christ knows how he’d explain all this to a roommate. 

It’d been close to two weeks since Bucky’d found the lamp, and Steve, and he still hadn’t made a wish. 

“Do I _have_ to wish for something?” he asked a few days after their introduction. 

“Why wouldn’t you want to wish for something?” Steve blinked. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” Bucky bit sarcastically. “Maybe to avoid any horrible consequences? Can’t you just, I don’t know, go back into your lamp and wait for your next master?” 

“I can’t go back until you’ve used your wishes,” Steve frowned. 

“Well can I give my wishes to someone _else_?” 

“Why’d you wanna do that?” Steve cocked his head to the side, confused, and Bucky thought he resembled a golden retriever puppy. 

“Never mind Steve,” Bucky sighed. 

And that was that. 

Bucky honestly wasn’t sure what his first wish would have ended up being if he hadn’t been forced to make one. Probably something meaningless and small, like a candy-bar when he was hungry. Unfortunately, when Bucky woke up that morning he remembered something _very_ important. 

“Fuck! It’s Becca’s birthday today!” 

He panicked. Steve’s lamp was supposed to be her gift, and after discovering Steve, he’d forgotten to go out and get something else. 

“Bucky?” What’sa matter?” Steve yawned and rolled over to blink up at him. 

Bucky wasn’t even surprised to find Steve in his bed anymore. At first he’d tried to make Steve stay on the couch, but the genie had just snuck into his room once he was sleeping and climbed in. After the first few times Bucky had just given up trying to make him stop. 

“It’s Becca’s birthday today and I forgot to get her another present and she’s gonna eviscerate me, fuck, fuck, fuck!” 

Bucky scrambled out of bed and to his laptop to look up last minute gift ideas. 

“ _Another_ present? What was the first?” Steve tried to rub the sleep from his eyes with his fist, and Bucky did his best not to look at the adorable sight. Steve stumbled sleepily from the bed to sit down on the floor beside him, chin hooked over Bucky’s shoulder. 

“Your lamp,” Bucky explained as the laptop booted up. “She loved genie lamps, so when I saw yours I figured she’d like it. But then you happened, and I can’t exactly give her your lamp now, now can I?” he shot Steve a wry grin. 

Steve wrinkled his nose in confusion. “Then why don’t you just use one of your wishes? That’ what they’re there for, to give you what you need,” Steve pointed out. 

Bucky froze. 

The thought hadn’t even occurred to him. 

“I didn’t think of that,” he admitted. Steve grinned. 

“Well?” 

Bucky bit his lip, hesitant. “It’s just, what would happen if I did? I mean, as a consequence. Since it’s for her would she suffer it? Because if she’d have to deal with it then I don’t want to use my wish.” 

He would not budge on this. Becca was his only family left, and he wasn’t about to do anything that would harm her. 

Steve stared at him, an odd look on his face. Bucky did not like that look. 

“You’d take any consequences your sister might face?” Steve asked. 

Bucky nodded. “I just want her to be happy, ya know? She deserves it, and if something horrible would happen to her because of a wish _I made_ , I don’t want that. I just want to get her a birthday present she’d love.” 

Steve continued to stare, and Bucky would swear Steve was looking directly into his soul. 

“I promise that no consequences will come onto your sister if you make this wish,” Steve spoke up suddenly, and the tension in Bucky’s body was released. 

“Really?” he asked. Steve nodded, smile reassuring, and Bucky couldn’t help but smile back. 

“Then I wish I had a birthday present for Becca that she’d love.” 

“Granted,” Steve snapped his fingers, and a wrapped package appeared on the floor next to them. 

Bucky stared at it as Steve stood up and stretched. 

“I think I’m gonna shower. Tell me when you leave, ‘kay?” 

Bucky nodded absently and picked the present up to inspect it. “What is it?” 

Steve paused and then flashed him a smile over his shoulder from the bathroom doorway. 

“Something she’s gonna love, I promise. Trust me.” 

And crazily enough, Bucky did. 

\- 

Becca loved her gift. 

Bucky had been nervous before she opened it, since he had no idea what it was, and had to work to conceal his surprise once it was revealed. It was an exact replica of Steve’s lamp, down to the last detail. 

Becca had hugged him, ecstatic, before proudly displaying the lamp next to the others she’d accumulated over the years. 

Bucky had left not long after, since it had been late in the day by the time Becca had decided to open her presents. Bucky promised he’d be back soon though to take her out for dinner. 

When Bucky got back to his apartment the first thing he did was confront Steve. 

“I thought you couldn’t control how the wish was fulfilled?” he demanded. 

Steve just grinned at him. 

“Actually, I said the _bigger_ the wish the less control. This was small, so it was easy to give you what you originally wanted. Why, did she not like it?” Steve looked suddenly concerned. 

Bucky waved Steve’s concern away. “No, no, she loved it, don’t worry. I just wasn’t expecting that.” 

Steve shrugged and looked at the floor, almost bashful. “Well, I mean, it was the whole reason you picked up my lamp, right? I figured this was the best way for you to get your money’s worth. I’m glad she enjoyed it,” and then he looked up, this shy little smile on his face, and it was like Bucky had been punched in the gut. 

Bucky stared at him, mind racing. Steve had done that for him, deliberately. Steve wanted to make sure Becca was happy too. Steve, this gorgeous, amazing, unbelievable man of a genie, and he would be gone just as soon as Bucky made his last wish. 

Bucky swallowed, suddenly overwhelmed by affection for Steve. 

“Thank you,” he whispered. 

Steve nodded, and then bit his lip. “I made dinner for you as well, if you’d like it.” 

Perfect. Steve was perfect, Bucky decided as he ate the, quite frankly, _amazing_ meal Steve had made. Steve beamed at him from across the table, proud, and it was like he belonged there, with Bucky. Belonged waking up with Bucky every day, helping him pick out presents for his sister, arguing over food or what to watch on TV, and being endearingly adorable. 

Bucky tried not to dwell on the fact that this, this life, was make-believe. Tried to ignore the fact that Steve wasn’t for him, never would be, and that Steve would soon be gone. 

\- 

“How old are you?” Bucky asked one day, curious. 

Steve blinked at him from his sprawl across the living room floor. They were watching one of those crime show marathons, the ones that were so utterly predictable that he and Steve had made a game out of who the killer was. 

(Steve was currently in the lead with 12 to Bucky’s 10, but he was positive that this episode would end in his victory. It was _definitely_ the wife’s best friend) 

“How old am I?” 

“Yeah,” Bucky tilted his face towards Steve and stretched out on the couch. “You said you’d been around for centuries. Just _how long_ is centuries?” 

Steve frowned, a cute furrow appearing on his forehead. 

“My first master was in 400CE, I think? Around that time, probably, from what I’ve gathered.” 

Bucky pushed himself up, eyes wide and mouth gaping. “4-400 CE? Steve, that wasn’t centuries ago, that was over a _millennium_ ago. As in, almost two thousand years!” 

“Is that a lot?” Steve frowned. 

“Is that a- yes, Steve,” Bucky laughed. “It’s a lot.” 

Steve shrugged, and Bucky fell back on the couch. “So if you’ve been around for nearly two thousand years, how many masters have you had?” 

“Counting you?” Steve tilted his head to the side. “Um, maybe twenty? Something like that? Not a lot.” 

Bucky stared at the ceiling, not really able to comprehend being alive for so long. Wouldn’t you get bored? 

“So are you ever aware of what’s happening outside the lamp when you’re in it?” 

“Eh, sort of?” Steve shrugged. “Being in the lamp is kind of like sleeping. Occasionally things seep in from the outside, but nothing really _registers_ , you know?” 

“So when was the last time you were out?” 

“The 70s, I think? In Boston. It was… interesting.” 

“I bet,” Bucky snorted. 

“What’s with the sudden interest anyway?” Steve questioned, a little grin on his face. 

Bucky tried to shrug it off and ignore the flush climbing up his cheeks. “Just, curious s’all, ya know? You’ve been around so long, and now you’re, well, _here_. Just figured I should get to know the guy living with me.” 

Steve’s lips twitched, amusement coloring his expression. Bucky internally panicked. Had Steve guessed Bucky’s feelings? 

“If you don’t want to tell me, you can just say that you know. You don’t have to lie,” Steve pointed out. 

“I’m not lying!” Bucky protested. Steve just grinned. 

“Of course not. Just like you’re not wrong about the killer. Now sssh, I wanna see your expression when you realize you’re wrong and it’s the nanny, not the best friend.” 

Bucky narrowed his eyes as Steve smirked at him, taunting him. 

Oh, it was _on_. 

Bucky launched himself off the couch with a battle cry. Steve’s eyes widened, but he wasn’t able to move before Bucky landed on him and immediately dug his fingers into Steve’s sides. 

The show (and the killer) lay forgotten by them as they wrestled on the floor, playfully hurling insults as they tried to one-up each other. 

(Bucky was totally right though, hah!) 

\- 

“So who’re you in love with?” 

Bucky choked on his coffee. 

Sam watched him, looking utterly unconcerned as his best friend tried to inhale air, not caffeine. Bucky glared at him as he tried to wipe up the mess he’d made with some napkins. 

“Why d’you ask that?” 

Sam shrugged at stared at him calmly. “You’ve been secretive lately, and you haven’t been coming out for drinks like you used to. In class you stare into space with this stupid look on your face,” Bucky made a sound of outrage at that, but Sam just barreled on as if he hadn’t heard, “and sometimes I see you doodling someone’s name in your notebooks like a love-struck teenage girl. Dude, you haven’t acted like this since you were ass over tits for Clint in high school. Thank god _that_ didn’t last.” 

Bucky frowned and sat back in his chair. “I don’t get stupid looks on my face.” 

Sam looked supremely unimpressed with his reply. 

“Who’s Steve then?” 

“I don’t like you anymore,” Bucky stated instead of replying. Sam narrowed his eyes. 

“You’re deflecting. Don’t make me bring Natasha into this.” 

“You wouldn’t,” Bucky breathed, horrified. 

“Answer the question Bucky,” Sam replied, and Bucky groaned. 

“You’re the worst, oh my god. Why are we friends?” 

“Because I let you cheat off my exam in algebra back in freshman year of high school and you haven’t left me alone since, and you’re avoiding the question. Again,” Sam’s tone was blunt and starting to get annoyed. Bucky knew if he didn’t answer soon he’d probably make good on his threat to call Natasha, and that was the absolute _last_ thing Bucky needed right now. 

“Fine,” he sighed. “Steve’s a friend of mine that’s visiting for a while. He’s leaving soon and I don’t know when we’ll get the chance to see each other again so I’ve been spending all my time with him.” 

Sam didn’t seem convinced, but he was apparently willing to accept the answer. 

“And you’re in love with him?” 

Again with the bluntness; it was something Bucky both loved and hated about Sam at times. Sam didn’t fuck around. 

Bucky thought about the answer though. Thought about the way Steve looked when he smiled, the way Steve was so animated when he talked about something he saw on TV that he absolutely had to make sure Bucky knew. About the way he always scrunched up his nose when he caught Bucky drinking coffee, or the way he looked adorably sleepy and ruffled when he woke first thing in the morning. The way he hugged Bucky, crowding in close and pressing against him so tightly that Bucky wasn’t sure where one of them ended and the other began. 

How Steve said his name, with such fondness. The way Steve looked at him, how Bucky could feel himself falling every time he looked back. 

Sam had this sad little smile on his face when Bucky focused on him again, almost pitying, and Bucky hated it. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” he bit out. Sam sighed and rested his head on his hand. 

“You should tell him before he leaves.” 

Bucky shook his head and looked away. 

“No, I really shouldn’t.” 

“You’ll regret it if you don’t,” Sam warned. 

“We couldn’t be together anyway, it’s not worth it.” 

Sam just shook his head. 

“Fine, but you’re the one who has to live with the consequences of your decision.” 

Bucky nodded and took another sip of his coffee, determined to move past this topic. “So, how’re you and Maria doing?” 

Sam got this dopey little grin on his face, so utterly smitten at the thought of his fiancée. Bucky envied him his relationship. 

He listened to Sam ramble on about something Maria had done the other day that he found hilarious, trying not to think about the genie waiting for him back at his apartment that he’d never be able to have like that. 

\- 

Sam’s words were all Bucky could think about later that night. 

‘you should tell him’ 

Bucky was speaking before he’d even realized he was doing it. “Have you ever been in love?” 

Steve froze, and Bucky knew he couldn’t take the question back now. 

Steve slowly lowered the dish that he’d been washing and turned to look at Bucky. “Why d’you ask?” 

His expression was unreadable, and Bucky desperately wished that Steve hadn’t decided _now_ was apparently the time to learn to control his facial expressions. 

Instead he tried to play it off, shrugging a shoulder nonchalantly. “I just, was curious s’all. You’ve been around so long, I figured, ya know?” 

There was no way in hell Steve could know what Bucky was trying to say, _Bucky_ didn’t know what he was trying to say. Steve nodded slowly though, as if he did. 

“Yeah,” he breathed, and then ran a damp hand through his hair. “And to answer your question, yes, once. I was in love once, but it didn’t work out, clearly.” 

Bucky was obviously a masochist, because he immediately asked, “What happened?” 

Steve gazed steadily at him as he leaned back against the counter. “I used to be human, once, before all this ya know,” he gestured around vaguely. Bucky swallowed, surprised, but kept silent as Steve continued. 

“My best friend found a genie lamp and made his wishes. I had just gotten engaged to my childhood sweetheart at the time. He made his wishes, and seemed happier for it. The last one though,” Steve shook his head, a bitter twist to his lips. “He made a wish, I can’t remember how, exactly, he phrased it. But the consequences of his wish were that I ended up bound to the genie lamp as a genie myself, while he got to live on with the woman who used to inhabit this lamp, and my fiancée forgot about me completely.” 

“That’s… that’s horrible, Steve, I’m sorry,” he breathed. 

Steve shrugged and continued to gaze at him. “It was a long time ago, I’ve moved on.” 

Bucky nodded and tried not to appear happy about that. He wasn’t an asshole. “Do you, that is,” Bucky started cautiously. “Do you think you’d, ya know, be able to fall in love again?” 

Steve stared at him, but this time Bucky met his gaze straight on, Sam’s words ringing in his head. 

Steve nodded his head and Bucky felt breath catch in his chest. “I, really?” 

Steve nodded, closed his eyes, and then laughed. “Bucky, you have no idea what you do to me, do you?” 

“I- what?” Bucky blinked, confused. 

Steve opened his eyes and gazed at him with open fondness. “Bucky Barnes, you are the most selfless human I have had the pleasure of meeting in the past two thousand years. You’re so thoughtful and considerate, and so _full_ of life. The last two months have been the best of my long life. Is it any surprise I’ve fallen in love with you?” 

Bucky was sure his heart stopped beating. “You, you love me? Me? Really?” 

Steve stalked towards him then, full of previously unseen predatory grace. Bucky flushed hotly as his pants started to feel a bit tight. 

“Yes, I do,” Steve whispered, hands settling on Bucky’s hips when he stopped in front of him. Bucky’s hands came up automatically to grip Steve’s ( _firm_ ) biceps. He swallowed. 

“I, I love you too,” he stuttered, so deliriously happy. 

“Yeah?” Steve grinned. 

“Yeah,” Bucky beamed. Any doubts, any reasoning he had used to convince himself that this would be impossible were wiped from his mind at that moment. 

Steve loved him. 

_Him_. 

Then Steve was leaning forward and they were kissing and Bucky was sure he could die happy at that moment. Steve pressed forward and slotted their hips together, and something hard pressed into Bucky’s thigh. 

He pulled back with a gasp and Steve smirked at him. 

“Yeah?” he breathed. 

Steve rolled his hips against Bucky’s, making both of them moan. “Yeah,” Steve panted. 

Bucky smirked and pressed an open mouth kiss to Steve’s neck. 

“Then take me to bed Steve,” he breathed. “Think it’s time I showed you a few tricks of my own,” he promised. 

\- 

Later, when Bucky was naked and satisfied and curled around Steve, his conversation with Sam came back to him. 

‘you’re the one who has to live with the consequences of your decision,’ he’d said. Bucky sat up suddenly as something hit him. 

“Bucky?” Steve slurred. 

Bucky turned to him. “Steve, I need you to tell me something, and it’s _really_ important.” 

Steve nodded, obviously confused and still tired. “Anything,” he promised. 

“What happened to the consequences of my first wish? The one I made for Becca?” 

Steve blinked and then slowly smiled, expression open and affectionate. “Is that what’s worrying you? Buck, you made a selfless wish. You wished for something for someone else, not yourself. There weren’t any consequences.” 

“Is that how it works then?” Bucky inhaled. “Selfish wishes have consequences and selfless ones don’t?” 

Steve narrowed his eyes as he tried to work out Bucky’s train of thought. “Essentially. Too many people are more interested in pleasing themselves first before anyone else. Why? What’s the sudden interest? Is this about your last two wishes?” 

Bucky’s mind continued to race. He’d had it wrong, before, when he thought there was no way for Steve to be free; for them to maybe be together. There was a way. 

“Can I combine my last two wishes?” he asked instead of answering. 

He knew what he wanted to do now. 

Steve stared at him, took in Bucky’s determined face, and felt his gut twist. 

“Bucky,” Steve started as he sat up slowly, “Buck, what are you planning?” 

Bucky smiled, and Steve’s eyes widened in alarm. “No, Bucky, no! You don’t know what’ll happen!” 

“I’ll be freeing you,” Bucky insisted stubbornly. “That’s what I’ll be doing.” 

But Steve was shaking his head. “No, Bucky, the consequences-!” 

“It’ll be for you!” Bucky insisted. “It’s selfless. You deserve to be free again, Steve. To be human,” Bucky pleaded. 

Steve smiled sadly. “It’s not that simple Buck. Something like this, there’ll be consequences, selfless or not.” 

Bucky cupped Steve’s face in his hands. “It’ll be worth it, knowing you’re free.” 

“You might not remember that though,” Steve’s eyes were red as he tried not to cry. 

“Well then,” Bucky swallowed, “you’ll just have to find me and make me remember again. Shouldn’t be too hard, I’m in love with you, that’s not something I’ll forget easily.” 

Steve started to cry. “Please don’t make me do this Bucky,” he begged. “I don’t want to hurt you.” 

“It’d hurt me more if you stayed trapped, unable to live,” Bucky replied. “I need to do this Steve.” 

Steve surged forward and pressed their lips together. Bucky kissed him back with everything he had, determined to savor this in case it was the last time. 

He pulled away and pressed their foreheads together. Steve whimpered and grabbed one of his hands as Bucky gazed into his gorgeous blue eyes one last time. 

“I wish you free Steve, to be human again, and I wish your lamp destroyed.” 

“Granted,” Steve sobbed as he snapped his fingers. 

Everything went black. 

\- 

\- 

\- 

\- 

“First day of the new semester, you ready for this man?” Bucky grinned at Sam. He had a hot coffee clutched in his free hand, his bag slung over his shoulder, and all his course books bought ahead of time, thanks to some extra money he’d earned working over the summer. 

Sam snorted into his own coffee cup. “I still don’t understand how you can be _this_ damn happy _this_ early in the morning. Why’d I let you convince me to take this early ass class with you again?” Sam wondered. 

“You love me,” Bucky smirked. 

“You’re delusional,” Sam rolled his eyes. Bucky cackled. 

“Oh, hey!” he stopped in the middle of the quad. “Becca’s birthday is in a month and she wanted to know if you’d be able to make it this year. Though I can’t imagine why she’d want _you_ there,” Bucky wrinkled his nose. 

“Course I’ll come,” Sam pinched him in the side, and Bucky most definitely did _not_ squeal as he jumped away. “And it’s ‘cause the ladies love me man.” 

“Not my sister,” Bucky glared. Sam held his hands up and laughed. 

They started to walk again, Bucky taking a sip of his coffee as he ignored the tug in his chest at the thought of Becca’s birthday. It was like he was forgetting something, something important, but he couldn’t place it. 

He’d been feeling like there was just something _missing_ for the past year, and it was honestly annoying the hell out of him. 

Too busy in his own head, Bucky wasn’t paying attention and therefor missed Sam’s warnings, so he walked right into someone instead of walking around them like he normally would. They two of them fell over onto the (thankfully) soft grass, both of them groaning in pain. 

“Oh god, I am _so_ sorry!” Bucky flushed, beyond embarrassed as he stood. “Please say I didn’t get any hot coffee on you, oh god, I didn’t burn you, right?” 

The guy he fell on laughed, and Bucky froze at the sound. It was… familiar. 

“No, no, I’m fine, don’t worry. It was my fault for stopping in the middle of a busy quad. And no coffee on my either,” the boy promised as he let Bucky help him up. Bucky stared at their joined hands, confused about why the other felt so familiar. 

“I’m Steve by the way,” the guy, Steve, offered. Bucky looked up and felt his words die in his throat as he locked eyes with Steve. 

‘Blue,’ he thought, entranced. ‘They’re gorgeous.’ 

“B-Bucky,” he stuttered. Sam stood off to the side, unnoticed by either of them as he watched the whole thing unfold with something akin to glee in his eyes. His phone was in his hands as he texted someone rapidly. 

“Bucky,” Steve drawled before he beamed at him, and Bucky wanted to whimper. 

‘That smile, oh god.’ 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Bucky,” Steve breathed as he stepped closer. Bucky had a hard time breathing. Something about Steve sparked something in him. Something he’d forgotten. 

“Have we met before?” he asked. He was sure he’d remember meeting such a gorgeous guy, but he wanted to be sure. Maybe he’d been drunk at the time? 

Steve eyed him with a silent intensity that made his body heat. “Maybe,” Steve grinned, all secretive and infuriatingly endearing. 

“If you’d like, we can meet up after your classes and chat? Get to know each other? Maybe you’ll remember,” Steve teased. 

Bucky licked his lips, heart pounding in his chest. “Sounds like a date.” 

“It is, if you’d like,” Steve promised. Bucky nodded, and Steve squeezed Bucky’s hand before he dropped it. Bucky immediately wanted to reach out and grab it again, slide their fingers together and lock them tight and never let go. 

Then Steve was leaning forward to press a light kiss to Bucky’s cheek. “I’ll meet you here then, you free at noon?” 

Bucky nodded and Steve smiled as he walked backwards, still facing him. 

“See you then Bucky Barnes,” he called, before he appeared to melt into the morning crowd of kids. Bucky stood still after Steve left, still staring at the last spot he’d been. 

“Dude,” Sam came up to him and clapped him on the back. “Way to go.” 

“Yeah,” Bucky grinned. “Now come on, let’s go before we’re late and the only seats left are the ones right in front.” 

They raced off to their morning class, Bucky more optimistic about the day than he’d been twenty minutes previous. 

Today was gonna be a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr](http://rinnielove.tumblr.com/)


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